Scotland U17s 15 - 33 England U17s: Spirited second-half fightback not enough to deny England

A WINNING second-half performance by Scotland was not enough to stop England from taking the honours in the under-17 international played in glorious conditions at The Greenyards yesterday.

The young Scots were hit by classy play and powerful running by the England centre pairing, one of whom, Max Clark – worryingly – is still in the under-16 age group.

Scotland were also affected by a yellow card. “We lost two tries while our man was in the bin,” said head coach, Peter Lavery, adding: “We were exposed a bit in defence and in our tackling. But the boys tried hard and played some good rugby and did well in the second half.”

England led 26-3 at the break at the end of a 35-minute period in which they used their physical advantage in midfield to run in four tries, two of them while Scotland were down to 14 after Dunbar Grammar School flanker Karl Main was shown the yellow card for an off-the-ball tackle.

Centre Clark began the try procession with a score, full-back Lewis Clayton-Malloy added a second with a chip and chase, before winger Howard Packman came off his blindside wing to scorch through for try number three, despite more than a hint of obstruction.

Then, just before the break, Clark raced in for his second try, stand-off Josh Sharp adding his third conversion.

Scotland, whose first-half points had come from a George Horne penalty goal, looked more determined at the beginning of the second half, scoring from good midfield handling that gave Horne a try in the corner, the Howe stand-off then converting from the touchline.

With their confidence lifted, Scotland then scored a second try, ignited by clever work from scrum-half Ben Vellacott and finished by winger Ruaraidh Smith from full-back Angus Rennie’s break.

But a late surge by England produced a try by replacement George Wacokecoke, converted by Sharp for the final points of the match.